The present invention relates to the field of peeling methods and devices for peeling vegetables, fruits, and the like.
Vegetable (e.g. "potato") peeling devices are old in the art. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,914, which is incorporated herein in its entirety. The drawings of U.S. Pat. No 3,745,914 are incorporated by reference. Such devices comprise a hopper which has an auger or the like deliver potatoes or the like to an abrading chamber which includes a plurality of elongated closely aligned rotatable abrasion rolls. Material to be peeled is fed into the chamber. A tumbling action takes place as the materials move longitudinally along the rotating rolls to an exit opening which is controlled by a moveable gate. The degree of peeling is controlled by the speed of rotation of the rolls, the volume of material in the chamber, etc. However, control of the peeling process could be more accurate.
Experience has shown that all adjustments within a continuous peeler are relative to the product infeed rate. This infeed rate if variable will render a variable peel result and therefore render ineffective the individual controls within the peeler itself.
Therefore, a principal object of the invention is the provision of a machine and method for controlling the degree of peel of the potato or the like through photo analysis, and the controlling of the machine to alter its operation to adjust the degree of peel to a predetermined standard.
A further object of this invention is the provision of a special discharge gate for the peeling chamber to carefully control the volume of material in the chamber and the rate of discharge of the material.
These and other objects will be apparent from the drawings and description which follow.